- actually, I'm English born and bred, and I don't drop my 'h's. Not many of us English folk do that; no more than Americans call each other 'pardner'.

Mind you, I rarely use the phrase 'an historic event'. and hardly ever 'an hotel'. I think that would seem affected (in the proper sense of the word - that is, not 'effected' ) Such usage is taught in 'posh' schools, not the sort of school I went to.

I think there's an historical reason for this usage. Another one involves the words 'which' and what'. I don't pronounce the 'h' in either of these words, but some educated folk I know do. I think it comes from way back; in Anglo-Saxon we have the word 'Hwaet' for example, in which the 'h' is sounded in front of the 'w'.